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Prostate Cancer

Our clinical care team, which includes Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Urologic Oncology, Pathology and Radiology, bring to our clinical practice the history of having developed the standards for prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment that are used around the world.

Prostate cancer is a very common disease. Studies of men without clinical evidence of prostate cancer, but who later died of accident or injury, have found that many men had prostate cancer and simply didn’t know it.

A man’s risk of prostate cancer being present somewhere in his prostate is approximately his age, minus 10, as a percent. Thus, a 60-year-old man has about a 50-50 chance of having some amount of prostate cancer within his prostate gland. On the other hand, a man’s lifetime risk of dying of prostate cancer is between two and four percent.

Most prostate cancers will never cause a problem during a man’s life. The prostate cancers most likely to cause problems are those that are large and those which are aggressive in appearance when examined under a microscope.

The physicians who treat prostate cancer at the UT Health Cancer Center are known around the world as experts in the management of this disease. We are the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center in Central and South Texas. Patients worldwide seek care at the cancer center due to the significant expertise of our physicians as well as their understanding that many of the current treatments around the world were developed here by our physicians. Examples of just a few of these discoveries include:

The two largest studies for prevention of prostate cancer were developed and overseen by faculty members at the cancer center. These two studies demonstrated that finasteride reduced the risk of prostate cancer by about 30 percent, that vitamin E increased the risk of prostate cancer by 17 percent and that selenium had no beneficial effect. Physicians at the cancer center are thus well informed to have high-level discussions with patients about methods to reduce their risk of prostate cancer.

The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Risk Calculator was developed at the cancer center in collaboration with individuals from around the world. This tool is used in almost every clinic around the world to help men determine their personalized risk of prostate cancer. Due to this special expertise, the cancer center physicians are specialists in assisting patients in understanding their risk of prostate cancer before they undergo a prostate biopsy. Given the individualized nature of the Risk Calculator, it is a common occurrence that patients who have been recommended to undergo a prostate biopsy by another physician, after viewing their own risk, opt instead to monitor their risk.

Our physicians have led a number of major treatment trials for prostate cancer over the past several decades. These studies have been incorporated into national and international treatment guidelines that specify how the disease should be treated. Patients coming to the cancer center will see a specialist in genitourinary oncology and may see multiple specialists to develop an individualized treatment plan that is based on the most current management guidelines.

Clinical trials

An advantage of receiving care from the prostate cancer specialists at the Cancer Center is that they can offer opportunities for new cancer treatments, cancer detection tests and methods to reduce the risk of cancer development or recurrence. Take a look at the available clinical trials.

Symptoms

Symptoms of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer almost never causes symptoms until it has spread. A man may have an early or even a very late prostate cancer and not know it until the cancer has spread.

Diagnosis

How is prostate cancer diagnosed?

Physicians have recommended regular physicals for men older than 50 to find the cancer early, treat it and prevent problems or death from the disease. These physicals include:

Digital Rectal Examination: A physician inserts a gloved finger into the patient’s rectum and feels the prostate, seeking any firm areas (called nodules) that might indicate the presence of cancer.

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test: A blood test that looks at the levels of prostate specific antigen, which is used in conjunction with other information to determine the possibility of prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator: The UT Health Cancer Center scientists and physicians developed the Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator, which combines the following six factors:

Age

Race/ethnicity

PSA

Rectal examination findings (normal or abnormal)

Family history of prostate cancer (yes or no)

History of a prior negative prostate biopsy (yes or no)

An important aspect of the calculator is that it not only estimates the risk of prostate cancer but also estimates the risk of aggressive prostate cancer —one that spreads more quickly and has a higher risk of causing death.

Treatment

Prostate cancer treatment

Radiation therapy with external beam: A high-dose X-rays or other types of rays may be used after surgery to prevent the tumor from returning.

Radiation therapy with implanted radioactive seeds: Doses of radioactive material are placed near the cancer cells or placed directly within the tumor. This is known as brachytherapy.

Active surveillance: Watchful monitoring of the cancer using regular checkups, blood tests and periodic prostate biopsies to determine if the tumor is growing or becoming more aggressive.

Survivorship care:Our patients are provided with long-term surveillance and regular follow-up visits are planned to provide the best long-term survivorship care.

Our physicians have extensive experience in all four forms of treatment of prostate cancer. Patients treated at our cancer center take advantage of many years of experience in caring for individuals with prostate cancer by physicians who oftentimes conducted the clinical studies that set the standard-of-care for physicians around the world.

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